Albert Brooks (born July 22, 1947) is an American actor, writer, comedian and director, nominated for the Oscars.

Albert Brooks’s Biography

First years

Brooks was born as Albert Lawrence Einstein in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, the son of Thelma Leeds, an actress and singer, and Harry Parke (whose real name was Einstein), a comedian radio that participated in the program of Eddie Cantor His brothers are the comedy actor Bob Einstein, better known by his pseudonym “Super Dave Osborne” or Marty Funkhouser in Curb your enthusiasm and Cliff Einstein, a partner of the agency Dailey & amp; Associates, of Los Angeles. Brooks is a Jew and attended Beverly Hills High School, grew up in an entertainment neighborhood in Southern California, and had Richard Dreyfuss and Rob Reiner as classmates.

Race

Brooks studied at Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh, but abandoned his career after spending a year as a comedian. He changed his surname Einstein (to avoid confusion with the famous scientist) to Brooks, and began his career, which made him a recognized exponent of live comedy in the late 60s and early 70s. Brooks had a role in the series of the NBC Tonight Show, whose protagonist was Johnny Carson. His character, a nervous comic, narcissistic, egocentric and ironic was the influence of other comics of his time, such as Steve Martin, Martin Mull and Andy Kaufman.

After releasing two successful comedy albums, Comedy Minus One (1974) and A Star is Bought (1975), which was nominated for the Grammy Awards, Brooks left the comedy live to devote himself to producing films . His first short film, The Famous Comedians School, was a satirical short that was broadcast by the PBS, and was one of the first comic documentaries to be produced.

In 1975, he directed six segments of the sixth season of Saturday Night Live, on NBC:

ad: 11/10/75 h: George Carlin – unlikely news

ad: 10/18/75 h: Paul Simon – Unsuccessful films

ad: 10/25/75 h: Rob Reiner – heart surgery

ad: 11/8/75: Candice Bergen – for the next season

ad: 12/13/75 h: Richard Pryor / Gil Scott-Heron – sick

ad: 9/1/76 h: Elliott Gould / Anne Murray – animator

In 1976, he played a role in the movie Taxi Driver, by Martin Scorsese (Scorsese allowed Brooks to improvise most of his dialogue). The paper made Brooks take the decision to move to Los Angeles to enter fully into the film business. In an interview, Brooks mentioned a conversation he had with the Taxi Driver writer, Paul Schrader, in which Schrader said Brooks’ character was the only one he could not “understand” from the movie. Brooks found the comment amusing, since his character, the anti-hero, was a lonely psychotic.

Brooks directed his first feature film, Real Life, in 1979. The film, which is about a typical suburban family trying to win an Oscar and a Nobel prize, was a parody of the documentary An American Family, from the PBS. Brooks also had a short cameo in the film Private Benjamin (1980), starring Goldie Hawn.

1980-1990

During the 80s and 90s, Brooks co-wrote (along with Monica Johnson), directed and starred in comedy series well received by critics, making variants of his neurotic and obsessive characters. These include Modern Romance, from 1981, in which Brooks personified a desperate producer to win back his girlfriend (Kathryn Harrold). The film was released in a few movie theaters in the United States, and finally achieved a collection of three million dollars, but had positive reviews. One of the critics said that “Brooks did not have the best performance of his life, but it was very funny.” In his movie Lost in America (from 1985), Brooks and Julie Hagerty personified a couple who change their way of life and decides to live in a motor home, as they had always dreamed. The film received positive reviews.

In Defending Your Life (1991), Brooks plays a character who lives after death, and who must justify the fears he had when he was human. Critics appreciated the chemistry on the screen of Brooks and Meryl Streep, his co-star. Later films were not very successful, but they maintained the quality of Brooks as a producer. It received good reviews by Mother (1996), in which it represents a writer who returns to his native town to fix the relation with its mother (Debbie Reynolds), and by The Muse, of 1999, in which Brooks personifies a writer from Hollywood who uses the services of an authentic muse (Sharon Stone) to get inspiration.

Brooks also starred in films by other directors and writers during the ’80s and’ 90s. He ventured into the horror genre by participating in one of the Twilight Zone stories: The Movie, impersonating a driver picking up a hitchhiker Suspect (Dan Aykroyd). For Broadcast News, by James L. Brooks (1987), he received a nomination for the Oscar awards in the Best Supporting Actor category, after impersonating an insecure and extremely ethical television reporter, who often asks the rhetorical question “No Would this world be much better if insecurity and despair made us more attractive? ” Brooks also received positive reviews for his role in Out of Sight, in 1998, where he played a banker and ex-con.

2000 onwards

Brooks received positive reviews for his portrayal of a dying clothing store owner who befriends disenchanted teenager Leelee Sobieski in My First Mister (2001). Brooks has been a guest star on The Simpsons five times during the series (always under the name A. Brooks), and is described as the best guest in the history of the series by IGN, particularly for his role as the supervillain Hank Scorpio in the episode “He only moves twice.” Brooks continued his work giving his voice to characters in the Disney and Pixar film Finding Nemo (2003), as the voice of “Marlin”, one of the protagonists of the film. / p>

In 2005, his film Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World sparked controversy over its title (which can be translated as Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World). Sony Pictures finally decided not to broadcast the film, because if it did, it had to change the title. Subsequently, Warner Independent Pictures purchased the film and premiered it in January 2006; the film received mixed reviews and many complaints. In the film, Brooks returns to interpret himself, as in Real Life; on this occasion, he is interpreted as a producer hired by the US government to find out what made the Muslims laugh, by sending him on a tour in India and Pakistan.

In 2007, he continued to collaborate on The Simpsons by voicing Russ Cargill, the main antagonist in The Simpsons: the movie.

He has been chosen to play Len, Nancy Botwin’s father-in-law, on the television series Weeds.

Personal life

Brooks was romantically related to singer Linda Ronstadt and actresses Carrie Fisher, Julie Hagerty and Kathryn Harrold. He is married to Kimberly Shlain, an artist. They met through a mutual friend. They have two children, Jacob Eli (born in 1998) and Claire Elizabeth (born in 2000).

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